Grocery Shopping & Nail Update

I went to a specialty store after work today to pick up a few gluten free/dairy free items which I can only get there. They were out of one of the things I wanted . . . AGAIN! Last time I went they were out as well. I even asked the stock people both times if they had any in the back. None. I am not very impressed right now. I can only get these items at this store, so I guess I am out of luck for now.

One of my goals for 2009 was to quit biting my nails. Well, it's been just over two weeks, and so far, so good. I have white showing on each nail which is a huge thing for me!! They need to be filed down a little this weekend. If I keep them pretty short the nails are actually very strong. I hate the sound of a nail clipper, so I only file my nails. I don't know what it is about that sound, but I just can't stand it!

2009 Goals

Here is my list of goals for 2009. I may add to or alter this list in the coming weeks, but here is what I have so far. Some will be hard for me and others are listed as a reminder to keep on track with what I am already doing.

Financial (12)
Pay off car by end of the year. (This is a stretch but is my ultimate goal.)
Limit clothes/shoes spending to $300. (I am planning to buy some clothes once I get in shape. I also want to buy black dress sandals.)
Only buy personal hygiene/apartment items when needed. (I have a lot under my bathroom and kitchen sinks!)
Limit other spending to only items that are needed.
At least 4 no spend days per week.
Do not buy pop at work.
Take lunch to work every day.
Look at tax withholding in July to determine if need to change W-4.
Check credit report three times.
Check credit score once.
Limit cash withdrawals from checking account to $20 per month.
Donate to a charity every other month.


Career/Education (4)
Finish CMA Exam by end of the year. (Part 2 by June and Part 4 by December)
Get equity increase approved by February.
Make a decision on grad school by end of the year.
Update resume every three months.


Health (4)
Continue gluten free/dairy free diet.
Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Workout at least three times per week.
Try new recipes and foods.


Personal (14)
Finish quilt for parents by March.
Complete afghan for myself by June.
Do dishes three or four times per week. (I hate doing dishes so they usually pile up.)
Floss and rinse each night.
Read one book per month.
Go through all tubs to determine what to keep, throw, and donate by the end of the year.
Play Wii more. (This is a stress reliever for me.)
Think more about where I want my life to go in the future and how to get there.
Decide where I want to live.
Blog at least twice a week.
List all spending on blog in order to maintain accountability.
Take more pictures of friends and family.
Visit an art museum.
Quit biting my nails. (This will be a hard one for me.)

Christmas Vacation Update

I am still on vacation from work, but I am back at my apartment now. I returned from my parent's house yesterday. I was planning to stay another day or two, but once I heard the forecast I decided to head back early. I am sure glad I did! They got over 7 inches of snow last I heard. There is also snow where I live resulting in more accidents, so I am glad to be safely home and not having to go anywhere.

On the money front . . . I didn't spend much money while at my parent's. I did go to the mall, but I did not find anything! That saved me from spending money unnecessarily. My parents are very generous when I am home. They paid for my oil change, bought me a few things from Target, and drove me around while I was there. My car sat in the garage most of the time. It was great. They have so much snow there, so I really didn't want to drive on their roads.

I love that gas prices have gone down. It only cost $15 to fill up my tank after my 4 hour drive to my parent's house last Monday. It cost a little more when I got back here yesterday because I also needed a car wash due to all of the salt on my car. (Another reason I am not a fan of living in the upper Midwest.) I also needed lots of groceries after being gone for a week. I was able to limit my spending on groceries to $34. That was good. I stocked up on a few things, so I should be able to spend less next week. My only expenses for the past week have been gas and groceries. The total was around $75 which was within my budget! Yay!
I got some great presents from my family for Christmas. They were all items that I wanted but didn't want to buy myself. Those are the best things to get. I got an angel food cake pan, a purple shirt from The Limited, a sweatshirt with my college logo on it, and a banana tree. My family loved everything I got them as well.

I am still working on getting my 2009 goals figured out. I hope to post them soon. As of right now, I am planning to be boring and stay home tomorrow night. I have a cold, so I don't feel like going out. I am planning to see how I feel tomorrow and decide. Some friends of mine are having people over, so if I do anything, I will go to their place. At least it will be a cheap night if I do something.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and stays safe!

Exhausted . . .

I am exhausted right now, but I can't sleep. Not good. I have my big test on Wednesday and I am starting to freak out. I am really trying to think positive that I will pass, but I am also trying to prepare myself for failure. I wish I wouldn't have told anyone I was taking this test this week so that if I failed I wouldn't have to tell anyone! Not good! I am taking this afternoon off to study and workout. Since I haven't slept much (not for lack of trying), I might also sneak a nap in for a short bit if I think I might actually be able to sleep. I need to be well rested for tomorrow.

It's freezing here right now. The cold and snow will probably keep me from doing much over the next week. This is good though because I don't want to spend any money and I have a ton to do after I get this test over with. I want to make the top of a quilt for my parent's for Christmas. I also need to make lots of sugar cookies. I will also be doing some work this weekend so that I can't head home on Tuesday and not have to worry about a thing for the next week or so. Last year I left some things until after I got back from my vacation time at Christmas. I thought about it the entire time I was on vacation from work. I decided to just work hard and get it all done before hand this year so that I can really enjoy my vacation.

I shouldn't have to spend too much money on my vacation. I can't wait to see my family, rest up, eat some good food, and relax. I want to make my 2009 goals as well over my vacation. I haven't been home since August, so this will be nice. I have seen my immediate family, but there's still something about seeing them at my parent's versus them coming here for a quick visit.

I need to update my sidebars sometime. I was able to transfer some more money to savings. This brings my total to just over $10,000 in savings. I am very excited about this. I should have everything updated by the start of 2009 with my plan for the new year in place.

Weekend Goal

My goals for this weekend . . .

1.) Only spend money on gas and groceries. There should be nothing else I need this weekend.
2.) Study lots!!!!

There is currently snow on the ground outside. I am not sure if I am ready for winter, but it's here whether I like it or not. I might have to turn my heat on this weekend since it's going to get cold and stay there.

October

I have been meaning to post for almost a week now, but I just haven't gotten a chance. I am trying really hard not to watch too much about the economy or worry about my retirement money. The biggest reason I worry is because I want to be paying extra on my car to get it paid off, but I am not sure if that's a great idea right now. I feel like I should be putting all of my extra money into savings for the time being. I am planning to put it all in savings and make larger extra payments every few months. I think I will have enough set aside to pay around $1,500 extra in December.

I am not sure how I will do at meeting my net worth goals over the next few months. I hope things will turn around so that I can meet, or exceed, them.

For October my goals are simple . . . Study, Save, and Sleep! I have been exhausted lately, so more sleep is in my plans. I need to really work on my food budget. I can't afford to go over this month with the holidays coming up. I am hoping to go under if anything since I am hosting Thanksgiving next month, so I will need some extra for that. Due to my family traveling 250 miles, they are somewhat limited as to what they can bring. They will be supplying some things which helps.

I also need to work on my budget this month. I need to find somewhere to move money from to put towards extra doctor bills. I am not sure where this is going to come from yet.

When I had my performance review at work back in June, I was told that I would probably be getting an equity adjustment at the very end of October when I hit my one year mark in my current position. I feel this is warranted since I am making less than the other people in the same position as me in my department. With things going the way they are in the economy though, I am not sure if I will be getting this. Is it right to ask about this? Or should I wait until they bring it up? I would love to hear what you think!!

September Goal Review

My September goals . . .

1.) Increase net worth by $500. I believe I met this goal. My rough calculations show that I did. I will know for sure tomorrow though.

2.) Limit fun/extra/personal spending to $50. This includes any clothes. I did not succeed at this goal. I went over due to buying a pair of jeans and some dress pants. They were a great deal though. I went over by $14.

3.) Save $250 towards house down payment. This will be my first month of trying to set aside month specifically for a house down payment, so we will see how it goes. I did save $250. However, I think my savings strategy has to change. A house is just not in the plans right now. I am still going to save this amount each month, but for other purposes.

4.) Buy no personal hygiene or apartment related items. I have so much shampoo, toilet paper, dish soap, etc that I should not be buying anything like this! I did great on this one. I did not buy anything in this category.

5.) Study for career related exam at least 4 times each week. I have been putting this off. It's something that I really want to do, but take a lot of times and dedication which I have not been very good at lately. I was not successful at this one. I studied, but not as much as I would have liked. I hope that I can do better in October.

6.) Exercise at least 4 times per week. My definition of exercise currently is anything that gets me up and moving. I can't wait for my new yoga DVD to get here to try that. I also go for walks which I count. The weather is going to cool down at the end of the week and I can't wait. I love fall. I didn't manage the 4 times per week, but I did get in 3. So, not great, but better than nothing!!

Overall, I think that I did okay. I am hoping to post my October goals tomorrow. I need to revise my budget due to a few changes. My doctor appointment line item needs to be increased. This will result in taking some funds from elsewhere.

I hope the economy stabilizes soon. I hate hearing about how the markets do from day to day. It's a good thing I have a long time until retirement.

Shopping & Future Plans

Well, I went shopping this morning. This means that I will not meet one of my goals. My goal was to limit my spending to under $50 for September for things like extras and clothes. I spent $59.25 today. I am okay with not meeting this goal. I got a great deal on the clothes I bought. I bought a pair of black dress pants and some nice jeans which I can wear on casual days at work. The store had a buy one get one half off deal. Plus I had a coupon for $30 off a purchase over $75. The original total was $119, but with all of my coupons, I only spent $59.25. I needed new pants due to losing some weight over the last six months. I only have two pairs of dress pants which fit. I am hoping to not spend any money on clothes for a month or two now.

Other spending this month . . . I haven't spent any money this month until today on anything other than my normal bills, groceries, and my professional association dues.

My future . . . I just found out that a state university is going to begin offering their MBA program at an off-campus location close to where I live. The school campus is about 1.5 hours from me, but the off-campus location is within 15 minutes!! I am seriously considering starting to study for the GMAT and taking it to see how well I do. If I decide to do this, I would apply to start school next fall. My work reimburses up to $5,000 per calendar year for tuition and books. Based on my calculations I would end up spending about $6,000-6,500 out of my pocket on tuition and books. I need to calculate the total cost including the GMAT and other things which will come up like application costs. This would require me to completely rework my financial plans for the next few years. I would also have to put off buying a house longer than I would like.

August Results and September Goals

I just calculated my August net worth and it increased!! That's always a good thing. My current net worth is $6,071.42. I am very happy about this. I started the year with a negative net worth. My goal is to reach $7,500 by the end of December. If I work hard, I may be able to reach this by the end of November.

I did pretty well overall with my August spending. I came in under budget in each of my categories. I even ordered a yoga DVD and still managed to not go over. I have decided that I need do something to help me relax. I would love to take yoga classes, but they are not in my budget currently. I found a DVD that sounds great online for $15.

My September goals . . .
1.) Increase net worth by $500.
2.) Limit fun/extra/personal spending to $50. This includes any clothes.
3.) Save $250 towards house down payment. This will be my first month of trying to set aside month specifically for a house down payment, so we will see how it goes.
4.) Buy no personal hygiene or apartment related items. I have so much shampoo, toilet paper, dish soap, etc that I should not be buying anything like this!
5.) Study for career related exam at least 4 times each week. I have been putting this off. It's something that I really want to do, but take a lot of times and dedication which I have not been very good at lately.
6.) Exercise at least 4 times per week. My definition of exercise currently is anything that gets me up and moving. I can't wait for my new yoga DVD to get here to try that. I also go for walks which I count. The weather is going to cool down at the end of the week and I can't wait. I love fall.

I will try these 6 for this month and see how they go. I hope this holds me more accountable and helps me achieve each of them.